Here are the first 2 that I have carved. They just got a 2nd coat of mastic and are drying. I carved the heads out of some leftover pine 2x4s I had around and gorilla glued them I'm place after the first coat of mastic then on the 2nd coat covered them too. Is that going to break or chip off after sanding? I don't think they are too bad for my first ones but if you see some mistakes let me know. I have thick skin and just want to get better.

I know with thinner layers of mastic it will dry quicker and more thorough, not leaving any "mushy" parts to the decoy. Also if you take a brush or even your hand dunked in water you can smooth out the mastic before it dries. Less time sanding the decoy afterward. I love carving blocks, when they turn out decent for me lol.

Thinner coats of mastic dry quicker and require less sanding. Not sure why you'd want to mastic over a pine head, but that's your choice.You could have an issue of strength if the head is glued only to first layer of mastic. The head assembly / joint to the body then becomes only as strong as the mastic that it's attached to.

I added a half inch dowel to the heads and sank them into the body about a inch and a half or so with gorilla glue. I def put way too much mastic on them. Told 2 days to dry out. Here are some pictures of the next set. The water helped out a lot. I guess I was thinking that I would use it to put some fine details but that's not the case it's not bondo. I was going to do the same with the dowel and gorilla glue them into the body is that the wrong way to do it?

Taxidermy eyes can get really expensive fast. Personally I make super simple gunners so I buy half round cabochons from panda hall. You have to paint them yourself but it isn't that tough and I haven't had a problem with them yet. Nice work on your first couple and can't wait to see them all finished.http://www.pandahall.com/wholesale/glas ... 21760.html

well here is the progress update still have some more work to do but i really dont like the pine heads i carved so I switched to foam after talking to Gene. Ill put pictures of a bluebill im working on now too. Please feel free to critique them. I want as many pointers as I can so i can improve. I have thick skin. Here they are.

Looking a lot smoother !I made foam heads for my Eider dekes as I was concerned about weight and making them top-heavy if I'd used wood.I used a 1/4" plywood core, then wrapped the foam with cheesecloth instead of burlap. It made for a much thinner head covering, saved weight, easy to work with.